Cain Velasquez dominates Junior Dos Santos to retain title

UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velásquez blitzed through his rival Junior Dos Santos to retain his title for a second time in one of the best cards the UFC has ever hosted.

The pair met in the octagon for a third time with each having one victory over the other.

The fight started at 100 mph, with both men swinging for the fences.

It was JDS who had first advantage, rocking the champion with a left hook.

However, the Brazilian was unable to capitalise and Cain managed to get Dos Santos to the cage and go to work - using knees and dirty boxing to work down his opponent.

Round two was much the same. Cain's superior cardio and athleticism was influential, with the champion holding JDS against the cage, using knees to the thighs along with short elbows and punches to wear the Brazilian down.

However, within the dying seconds of round two, Dos Santos caught Velasquez with a short elbow followed by a right hand, shaking the champion, before he was saved by the bell.

The third round was where Velasquez really tightened his grip on the fight.

After a good start to the round from JDS due to a big right hand, again Cain scrambled him to the fence.

When JDS broke free, we saw a reflection of what dropped Velasquez in the first fight - this time by the man himself.

It was what started the beginning of the end for the former champion.

He dropped and took some massive shots from Velasquez and the only thing that kept him up was his amazing chin.

As the two entered the championship rounds, a repeat of round three was witnessed.

Midway through the round, referee Herb Dean had to call the doctor into the ring to look at him - one eye nearly closed, and the other bleeding profusely above the eyebrow.

It was ugly to watch and was very likely a 10-8 round on the judges scorecards.

In the final round the fight was largely on the ground with JDS desperately looked for a submission, however, the amount of blood that pooled the pair and the canvas made it impossible.

The fight bizarrely eventually ended when again Cain shot to a take-down.

Dos Santos leached on for a guillotine choke, however, the punishment he had taken for 23 minutes was finally highlighted.

JDS face-planted the mat and virtually KO'd himself.

Dos Santos was left admitting he had been second best - his face left in a complete state.

Velasquez proved his talents once again.

Both fighters showed the heart of a lion but the champion was just far too good in every aspect of the game.

He dominated JDS for 99 percent of the fight and proved that his loss to the Brazilian was in fact just 'a lucky punch.'

In the co-main event of the evening, Velasquez's training partner Daniel Cormier went to 13-0 as he brushed aside Roy Nelson in what is seemingly looking like his last fight at heavyweight.

Weighing in at just 224 lbs, former Olympic wrestler Cormier out struck and out grappled 'Big Country' for the whole of the fight.

The speed advantage was noticeable from the first bell and gave Nelson no options to close the distance.

Nelson had no answers for Cormier hoped one of his wild overhand rights would land on the chin of DC.

Cormier feels disrespected by Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones and wants to prove how talented he is to the 205 lbs title holder.

However, it was Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez who stole the show.

Their fight was an all out war and has fight of the year written all over it.

The fight promised potential and certainly delivered.

The first round was interesting as it was Sanchez who gained a grappling advantage, getting the back of Melendez early on.

However, 'El Nino' was able to shrug Sanchez off and took over, cutting 'The Dream' with a nice short elbow against the cage.

Round two was all Melendez too.

It seemed Sanchez was willing to take three or four shots in order to land a decent one.

It was back and forth but Melendez really turned the screw and got the upper hand of every exchange.

The final round was then an absolute classic. It was vintage Diego Sanchez.

Just like his fights against Clay Guida and Martin Kampmann, he pressed and pressed and managed to reel Melendez into his dog fight.

The pair swung for the fences and Sanchez dropped Melendez with an upper-cut however, he couldn't capitalise.

The judges gave Melendez the win.

Gabriel Gonzaga continued to impress since returning to the UFC, knocking out Shawn Jordan with a counter right hand after just 93 seconds of their Heavyweight clash.

John Dodson too highlighted why he is ranked the second best flyweight in the world.

Coming off the loss in his title fight to Demitrious Johnson, he welcomed Darrell Montague into the UFC.

His striking looked more patient and matured and the Ultimate Fighter winner was rewarded with a first round KO.

On the undercard, Tim Boetsch picked up a very surprising decision victory over CB Dollaway.

For the first two rounds, Dollaway's striking was superb, out-striking Boetsch in every exchange. He also had his opponent in side control for a large portion of the round.

Round 3 could have went to either and even with Dollaway losing the round and being deducted a point for two accidental eye pokes, he still done enough to win the fight.

Hector Lombard sent a message out to the welterweight division.

He waltzed past former Strikeforce WW champion Nate Marquart, smashing him with an uppercut followed by a hammer-fist in the very first round.

It puts Lombard in a very strong position in the division. As for Marquart, that's three loses straight and could very well see him fighting in another promotion.

One man who's next fight certainly won't be in the UFC is George Sotiropolous, who was decisioned by KJ Noons. That's four losses back-to-back for the Aussie and he should be expecting his P45 soon.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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